Election Supervisory Boards Have Disqualified Over Four Thousand More Candidates

The head of the country's election headquarters announced that supervisory boards have disqualified an additional 4,500 candidates for the council elections, bringing the total number of disqualified candidates by these boards and executive boards to approximately 14,500. According to the state news agency IRNA, Ali-Asghar Ahmadi stated on Saturday, May 6, that out of about 290,000 candidates for the council elections, 10,000, or about three percent, were disqualified by executive boards. He added, "The statistics we have from the results of the qualifications review in the supervisory boards indicate that about 4,500 candidates have been added to the previously disqualified 10,000." Mr. Ahmadi did not specify how many of these candidates were disqualified by county and provincial supervisory boards and how many by the central supervisory board. Previously, Mohammad Mahmoudi, the head of the central supervisory board for the Islamic city and village council elections, reported that out of 289,777 candidates, 9,470 were disqualified by executive boards. Mr. Mahmoudi explained that among the disqualified, 3,074 were from cities and 6,396 from rural areas, and 4,472 candidates had also withdrawn. Meanwhile, Farhad Tajri, spokesperson for the central supervisory board, emphasized in an interview with the Mizan news agency that this board can disqualify individuals who were previously approved. Mr. Tajri added, "In coordination with other members, we will not allow individuals with a history of sedition and corruption to enter the electoral process, and for this purpose, we will conduct inquiries from official security and intelligence ministries about individuals." Mr. Tajri's remarks come as the law governing council elections states that the central supervisory board cannot interfere in the work of county and provincial supervisory boards regarding the approval of candidates and the confirmation of election results. Previously, conservative media criticized the approval of some candidates who had been arrested during protests against the 2009 presidential election. According to the central supervisory board for council elections, the preliminary results of the candidates' qualifications review will be announced on Sunday, May 7. Mohammad-Reza Aref, a representative from Tehran and head of the Hope faction in parliament, described the disqualification process for reformist candidates in county elections on May 6 as "very concerning." Some reformist figures also criticized the disqualification of their candidates in several provinces, including Khuzestan, Razavi Khorasan, and East Azerbaijan. Iranian media also reported the disqualification of several current city council members, including Morteza Talayi, Alireza Dabir, Abbas Jadidi, and Hossein Rezazadeh, by executive boards, and Mehdi Chamran, head of the Tehran city council, assessed this issue as a sign of "suspicions of political interference" in the qualification reviews. However, members of the supervisory board for council elections stated that these candidates were disqualified due to "economic corruption." Unlike other elections in Iran, which are overseen by the Guardian Council, the supervision of council elections is managed by a board composed of members of parliament. This board includes about 90 members of parliament, comprising both conservative and reformist representatives. Inquiries have been made about the candidates from the Ministry of Intelligence, the judiciary, law enforcement, and civil registration, known as the four supervisory authorities. In this context, Aref described the disqualification process for reformists in council elections as "very concerning." The approval of several religious minorities for council elections has also been noted, as well as the disqualification of the vice president and some members of the city council of the capital. The results of the candidates' qualifications review for council elections will be announced soon. The excitement of the elections and the "ineffectiveness of councils in practice" have also been highlighted, with the Islamic Republic described as an "oligarchy" in the context of council registrations. The Iranian election headquarters reported that over 287,000 candidates have registered for the council elections.